


Jedtavius Week 2k19

by SilverInk



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Feelings Realization, Idiots in Love, Jedtavius Week 2019 (Night at the Museum), Light Angst, M/M, Nicknames, Sappy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 00:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19262101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverInk/pseuds/SilverInk
Summary: My prompt fills for the Jedtavius Week event!





	Jedtavius Week 2k19

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "Lost": Jed and Octavius in the first NATM movie. They work together to try & stop the tablet of Akhmenrah from being taken, & get lost on the way back to the museum, which gives them plenty of time alone to talk...
> 
> (Thanks to my sister @ GhostInTheMachine for helping edit this!)

Before the former night guards of the museum stole Akhmenrah’s tablet, Octavius and Jedediah had never been made to work together on anything. But the disappearance of the tablet that made the museum come to life was truly a noble cause, Octavius thought, and neither he or Jedediah complained much about it. In fact, they ended up working very well together, and Octavius found himself enjoying spending time with the other man now that they weren’t fighting.

The man who had the tablet escaped, and the two of them found a toy car that was the perfect size for them and tied Rexy’s bone to it so they could give chase.

“Jedediah, do you know how this apparatus works?” Octavius asked as Jedediah jumped into the driver’s seat, and he put a hand on the edge of the car window.

“‘Course I do! It’s easy.” Octavius glanced at him in concern, and Jedediah just rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Toga Boy, we don’t got time for a driving lesson! I do this all the time, just get in!”

Octavius sighed and got into the passenger seat, and they were off, with Rexy behind them. And Jedediah was actually a very good driver—he was confident, and he drove fast and took sharp corners, almost like he was showing off, and they were both shouting and whooping by the time they found Larry.

“At your service, Gigantor!” Jedediah shouted up to Larry, grinning and a little cocky.

“How can we be of assistance, my liege?” Octavius added, amusement and adrenaline running through him. He’d always thought he and Jedediah could have a very good friendship if they stopped fighting, and though their fights had never been anything more than roughhousing and just something for them to do, this night of peace between them had been wonderful.

After a moment of consideration, Larry told them to cut off the man with the tablet as he was trying to escape in a stagecoach, and Jedediah drove faster than ever now that they were on a huge, open road. The confidence and happiness looked astonishingly good on him.

“We’re livin’ the dream, baby!” he shouted, and Octavius whooped loudly, having more fun than he had in a long time. They took a sharp turn to avoid being run over by the stagecoach, and then the car flew over a snowbank, flipping over dizzyingly, and crashing with a tiny explosion.

Octavius only regained awareness when Jedediah shook him awake, one hand on Octavius’s chest and concern in every line of his face. Black soot was dusted over him from head to toe, and Octavius thought vaguely that he must look the same. There was snow falling around them, and some of it was caught in Jedediah’s hair.

“You scared the livin’ daylights outta me, partner. Thought you was a goner for sure.”

“You could not get rid of me so easily, my friend.” In fact, Octavius didn’t feel very hurt at all, just stunned and slightly winded. His helmet must have fallen off, because he felt Jedediah’s fingers move into his hair.

“Wouldn’t want to get rid of you Ockie, I’d get bored without ya.”

Eventually Jedediah pulled Octavius to his feet, and his legs felt shaky enough that he had to lean on Jedediah for a long moment. He was strangely reluctant to move away from the other man, but he made himself take a step away once he could.

“Which way will take us back to the museum?” Octavius asked, glancing around the wide roads near where they’d crashed. Since he’d been the one driving, Jedediah must have had a better idea of where they were going, Octavius thought. There was no answer, and when Octavius looked over, Jedediah’s brows were furrowed in confusion and he was looking all around like he was concentrating hard. Octavius’s heart plummeted.

“Did you get us lost?!” he demanded, and the cowboy winced.

“We ain’t lost! Just keep your helmet on, Kemosabe.” He bent down to pick something up out of the snow; it was Octavius’s helmet, and Jedediah pushed it toward him forcefully. “We’re not lost, this just isn’t quite where I thought we were.”

Octavius felt better with his helmet back again, and he shook his head in irritation. “So, which way, then? We’d better get started now. It will take much longer to walk than it did to drive.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Jedediah still looked confused as he glanced around again, and Octavius covered his face with a hand. “Ok, it’s this way I think,” he announced, pointing down the road nearest them.

The ‘I think’ made Octavius nervous, but he was willing to trust Jedediah. He nodded decisively. “Alright. Come, we should start now to make it back before sunrise.”

 

***

 

“I don’t think this was the right direction,” Jedediah said after nearly fifteen minutes of walking.

“But… are you sure this is the right road?”

Shrugging, Jedediah said, ”Yeah, it was the closest one to where we crashed.”

“Alright, so we just have to backtrack, and then we will find the museum.” Octavius was trying to be practical about the situation, and not indulge in the flicker of real fear that was growing in his chest. Neither of them had been outside much at all before this, and this was certainly the first time they’d risked being out at sunrise. But they just had to backtrack down this road, and they’d be fine.

It was a long time of walking. They didn’t talk much until they came to a fork in the road, and Jedediah turned to him and asked, “We came from that way didn’t we?” He pointed left, and none of the scenery in that direction looked familiar to Octavius.

“I think we have to go right.”

Jedediah looked, and then shook his head. “Nothin’ looks familiar down there, I definitely think we should go left.”

They looked at each other for a moment, then Octavius sighed loudly. “Fine. We’ll go left a little ways, then come back and go right once you realize I’m right.”

Jedediah laughed loudly and started walking. “You wish, Kemosabe! Ain’t gonna happen!”

 

***

 

“Alright,” Octavius conceded, “you might have been right about going this direction.” As they walked, things were looking more and more familiar, and Octavius was incredibly glad that Jedediah had bullied him into coming this way.

“Told ya,” Jedediah grinned, and Octavius looked away, feeling himself flushing.

It had been snowing lightly this whole time, but now the flakes were starting to come down heavily. It was getting hard to see the road and even walk through the snow now, and Octavius was becoming worried again. They just kept walking, and Octavius wrapped his red cape around himself tightly.

They walked for a long time, and it wasn’t until they nearly ran into a tree that they realized they were once again not where they thought they were. All around them were towering trees and bushes, with no sign of the road.

“Dagnabbit!” Jedediah shouted, kicking the tree and throwing his hat onto the snowy ground. “Well, now I’ve gotten us lost.”

They were lost. Octavius could barely see their footprints behind them, and he didn’t want to get them more lost by attempting to follow them.

“I don’t know if we can make it back by sunrise. I’m sorry, Octavius.” Jedediah hardly ever used Octavius’s actual name, and hearing it so sincerely now was a shock.

“No, do not apologize.” Octavius hardly knew what he was saying. Only two days ago, he would’ve been furious and shouting Jedediah’s ears off. “I am only sorry we had so little time together as friends.”

Jedediah nodded, not meeting his eyes. “If this is our last night, there’s something I really wanna tell you.” He glanced at Octavius, and Octavius nodded, his heart racing.

“What did you wish to tell me?” Octavius murmured when Jedediah didn’t continue.

Taking a deep breath, Jedediah looked him in the eyes and said, with shockingly steady nonchalance, “Just that I really like you, and I wish we could’ve had time to be even more than friends.” Octavius’s mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t even think of what to say. He searched Jedediah’s face, and underneath the nonchalance, there was clearly real feeling, and nervousness that he thought didn’t show. He had meant what he said, Octavius was sure of it. And over the course of the night, Octavius had realized he had those same feelings for Jedediah.

“I know it don’t seem like I like you at all, but I have for a while now, I just haven’t had the courage to tell you. I was scared, so it was just easier to go on as we were.”

Jedediah was still looking at him, waiting for his reaction, and the only thing Octavius could think to do was take Jedediah’s hand and press a soft kiss to his knuckles. He looked into Jedediah’s face again, shocked and disbelieving and happy, before leaning in to kiss his lips. It was slow and soft, and Octavius sighed into it, feeling Jedediah push his helmet off to run his fingers through Octavius’s hair. It was the best thing Octavius had felt...maybe ever, and it took tremendous effort to pull away from the kiss.

“I also feel the same,” he told Jedediah. “I only realized it tonight, but I cannot be sure how long I’ve really felt like this.”

“Well, that’s sure nice, ain’t it?” Jedediah grinned, running his fingers through Octavius’s hair again and kissing him softly. “I feel like an idiot for not telling you sooner. Wish we could’ve stopped fightin’ ages ago, maybe you’d’ve realized all this sooner, too.”

Octavius nodded, feeling miserable. They should have stopped fighting so long ago, and they should have kissed a long time ago. And now, they didn’t have much time at all. “I wish that, too.”

They stood together in silence for a moment, and then Octavius felt something pulling inside him, and he suddenly felt like he knew where the museum was.

“Octavius, I think I know where to go now. I can’t explain it—“

“Me too. Maybe it has something to do with the tablet?”

They walked through the forest quickly now, but it was still a long time before they reached the bottom of the stairs into the museum. They helped each other up the stairs with difficulty, and then, after far too long, they were home again.

Just before sunrise, as they were going back to their separate exhibits, Octavius grabbed Jedediah’s scarf and kissed him again.

“You will still want this after tonight, won’t you?” Octavius asked, suddenly worried that this would end up being just a one-time thing.

“‘Course I will, darlin’, if you do,” Jedediah grinned, and Octavius laughed as they kissed again and again.


End file.
